Midnight Club IIReview

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Ready for a high-octane spree in Rockstar's latest street racer?

By Steve Butts

Back in the day your esteemed IGNPC editors use to gather up all the console racing fans and join together with them in a unique little treat called Midtown Madness. But apart from the sequel to that game and a little gem known as Re-Volt there haven't been many decent arcade racers on the PC in the intervening years. At least not for the PC. Now Rockstar San Diego (formerly Angel Studios, of Midtown Madness fame) is giving us another reason to live again courtesy of a port of the PS2 hit Midnight Club II

Rockstar continues their fascination with the criminal elements of society by delivering up a game about illegal street racing. Offering up three large cities, a suite of fast cars and an arcade sensibility, Midnight Club II is a game that starts fast and never lets up. You'll take on a number of street racers, pitting your skills against theirs in a winner-take-pink-slip affair. As you progress through the game you'll unlock more cars, more tracks and more special moves.

You simply need to find an opponent, flash your brights at them and try to keep up. Once you've proven that you're no first-day wonder, the racer in question will challenge you to a checkpoint race through the city. You're free to take shortcuts using ramps, tunnels and anything else you can find.

Head-to-Head Available! Want to know if should buy the Xbox, PS2, or PC version of Rockstar's high-octane, inner-city racer? Just head over to IGN Insider to learn all about each version. In this feature we break down everything in a point-by-point comparison with side-by-side screenshots!

This is must-see material. And, if you already own the game, get the strategy guide.

In terms of character, the Los Angeles map offers a lot of open area and not too many cars. Once you graduate to Paris and Tokyo, you'll see an increase in the number of cars on the road. What's more, these two later cities offer up a greater sense of vertical action and more levels than you'll find in Los Angeles.

Midnight Club II is one of the fastest racers around. The game sells the sensation of speed with detailed road textures and a slightly relaxed crash model. As you tear down the streets, you'll find that small collisions don't really get in the way of winning (as long as you can keep you car heading in the right direction, of course) and you can really beat the crap out of these machines before you'll have to respawn in a new car.

In terms of cars, you simply won't see the same degree of variety that's apparent in titles like Midtown Madness or Vice City. All of the cars here are designed for high-speed action, so you won't get the fire trucks, minis or taxi cabs you find in those other games. The cars that are included here have a phenomenal grip on the road that still manages to convey a powerful sense of mass in the powerslides.

In addition to unlocking cars, you'll also earn new abilities. Some, like burnout, come quite early and help in almost every situation. Giving a quick burst of power right at the start, burnout's a key part of the start of every race. Another useful power that helps balance the game in addition to making it more fun is the slipstream turbo. If you're right behind other racers long enough, you build up a slipstream meter that gives you a free turbo boost.

Other abilities are less useful in general situations but still fun nonetheless. The weight transfer function allows gamers to tilt the center of gravity on the car to pop it up on two side wheels. While this is merely novel in the early stages of the game, as you progress to the more congested streets of Paris and Tokyo, you'll find this feature remarkably useful.

Weight transference is much more a regular part of motorcycle racing. Shifting your weight to the left or right results in tight turns (much more so when a little E-brake is applied) and shifting it forward or backwards results in either a head-down streamlining or a wheelie. It's even possible to do an endo on the bikes but, apart from sticking your landings, shifting your weight to the front or rear of the bike doesn't have many straight gameplay applications. (I found the slight camera shift that occurs when you shift your weight takes a while to get used to.)

I'm really impressed that the bikes have been balanced so well against the cars. A higher top speed and better acceleration are compromised by the overall fragility of the bikes and a less reliable powerslide. If you're not careful you'll find that understeering is a big issue with the bikes (making the weight-transference on the turns absolutely essential) and you'll eventually find your body flying off the bike in all but the most gentle collisions. Compared to the paint-trading, rail-scraping nature of the cars, it's a nice change of pace.

In races where the checkpoints needn't be passed in order, you'll see some startling variety among the AI routes. It seems that no two races ever take place exactly the same way. Some AI drivers will veer off and take a new route, often encouraging you to look for some of these secrets yourself. This new railbranching system even works in races where you have to pass the checkpoints in a particular order. In that case, the shortcuts aren't as extreme a divergence but you'll still see a few cars pull off from the main pack to cut through a part of the course.